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 (020826)
Marty Supreme is a dizzying, fast-paced film about a young man who will do
anything to achieve his dream of becoming a world-class ping-pong champion. The
film creates this dizzying atmosphere through its masterful use of tight
close-ups and long lenses. Like the recent
Highest 2 Lowest
and
Caught Stealing,
this film makes perfect use of its city setting and manages to fully capture the
frantic energy of New York Life. Clocking in at 150 minutes, it seems shorter than the first hour of
Wicked For Good
or the first half hour of
Captain America: Brave New World.
The film was released late last year at Christmas time, and if I had seen it in
time. I would’ve certainly put it on my
Top 10 Films of 2025, or maybe even Top 5.
The Safdie brothers, Josuah and Benjamin, made big waves in the Indie film
circuit with their debut film, Good Times (2017). They solidified their
reputation with their magnificent second film, the Adam Sandler showcase, Uncut
Gems (2019). Many critics and film commentators (including me) believe it got
robbed at the Oscars. If Sandler were not so well known for his inane comedies,
I think he at least would have been nominated for his performance in Gems. Marty
Supreme is Josh Safdie’s first feature without his brother Ben. To date the film
has been
both a box-office and a critical success. Safdie successfully captures the Jewish New York
community in the Lower East Side almost as well as Scorsese captured the Italian
New York milieu in Mean Streets.
Marty Supreme is one of the most impressive sports-themed films I have seen in
years, and it is comparable in quality to Chariots of Fire (1981) and Rocky (1976).
But unlike Rocky, the main character, Marty is both admirable and despicable.
Marty is an underdog struggling against tremendous odds, succeeding only through
sheer force of will in a twisted version of the American dream. He
destroys or harms everyone he meets, and is willing to cheat or use everyone
around him.
The film is by no means a traditional sports film, and it lacks most of the
genre's defining characteristics. There are no Rocky-like montages of training
routines or clear, triumphant feel-good wins in the film.
The film stars Timothy Chalamet, one of the hottest rising stars in Hollywood.
He is probably best known for his films,
Interstellar (2014), Call Me by Your
Name (2017),
Dune (2021), Wonka (2023),
Dune Part 2 (2024), and the film
that contains his greatest performance, the Bob Dylan biopic,
A Complete
Unknown (2024).
One of the many interesting things about the movie is that many of the
characters look unglamorous and ethnic (mostly Jewish). Chalamet takes a big
chance here, playing a mostly amoral character. Also, the filmmakers made him
look unattractive, with imperfect teeth and horn-rimmed glasses. His character
is loosely based on Marty “the needle” Reisman, a real tennis champ who by
some accounts, was even a bigger conman and hustler than this fictional
representation.
Marty Mauser is always scheming and scrounging for money, and he has dubious ideas
about how to earn cash. He wants to drop balls from a blimp for a fake movie and
sell orange ping-pong balls for some reason. In confrontation with his tormented
financer, he loses control of the balls, which all drop to the floor, which goes
along with him losing control of his dream or life, at least temporarily. The
dropping of the orange balls is the most vivid single image in the film.
Marty is in simultaneous relationships with two women, and he treats neither one
especially well.
The two actresses playing the love interests for Marty are very
good at portraying almost completely opposite characters. Gwyneth (Iron
Man and
Shakespeare in Love) Paltrow is Kay, a bored, affluent, much older actress who has it all but
will do anything to liven up her life. It’s not clear if he really cares for her or is just
after her husband Milton’s money to fund his overseas sports excursions. In contrast,
he has also been seeing his now-married high school girlfriend, Rachel (Odessa A’zion)
for many years. She is a
tragic working-class woman in a dead-end life and job, just trying to scrape by.
Marty got her pregnant and refuses to take any responsibility for the baby. Both
women may be on opposite sides of the social/economic fence, but both are also
desperate and trapped in unsatisfying marriages while having an affair with
Marty.
He chases after Kay ruthlessly until she gives in because she is surrounded by
fakes and yes-men, and she finds his blunt honesty refreshing. I am sure
he enjoys the company and sex, but he also has a big ulterior motive for seeing
her. He wants to use her to get to her rich, bigoted husband, Milton, so he can
convince him to sponsor his trip overseas to play a big match against his big
rival the Japan’s champ Koto Endo. But the big catch is that Milton wants him to
throw the match so he can make Koto a bigger hero to sell products. Will he go
along with this? I am sure viewers will be as delighted with the results as I
was.
The film is also filled to the brim with lively supporting performances and
cameos, some by actors who have not been popular or seen much for years. Fran
(The Nanny) Drescher is Marty’s long-suffering mom. The real-life controversial
film and play director, David Mamet, plays a stage director here. It is also
delightful and surprising to see performance artist/comedian Sandra Bernhard and
alt hip-hop star "Tyler, the Creator" in small roles. The talented but largely
forgotten director Abel Ferrara (The Bad Lieutenant) also appears as an unsavory and immoral
character. My disastrous interview with him can be found at:
Abel Ferrara Interview – ART INTERVIEWS)
Despite the fact that the film takes place in the 50's, it is filled with a
generous selection of 1980s techno and post punk classics by Tears for Fears
(Change and Everybody Wants to Rule the World), Alphaville (Forever Young), New
Order (The Perfect Kiss), and Public Image Ltd. (My Song), as well as older
songs. Interesting sidenote: when I lived in Bridgeport, I got to meet the Pil
drummer, Martin Atkins, and my interview with him can be found at:
Martin Atkins Interview – ART INTERVIEWS
Although I liked it only slightly less than another carryover from last year:
The Mastermind
Marty Supreme is a terrific cinematic roller coaster ride that features one
of 2025’s most memorable lead characters and one of the best male performances.
It makes most of the current releases look mindless, gutless, and forgettable in
comparison.
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